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Aberscross Burn to Kinnauld

Geological Conservation Review site | GCR #1158 | Structural and Metamorphic Geology | Moine

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Summary

The roadside exposures from Aberscross Brun to Kinnauld provide a complete and particularly graphic section through the eastern migmatitic envelope of the Rogart Igneous Complex, which complements and contrasts with the narrow migmatitic peripheral zone to the north. Three broad gradational zones of progressive migmatisation are well-exposed, from unmigmatised and slightly migmatised Moine metasediments of Abercross Burn, through an intermediate zone of lit-par-lit banded migmatite to an inner zone of highly migmatitic lithologies containing extensive granodioritic sheets and veins, around Kinnauld. This is one of the most readily accessible and uniquely detailed sections through archetypal migmatite terrane to be found in Great Britain. It comprehensively illustrates the progressive transformation of metasediments into rocks of igneous aspect and serves to demonstrate the inextricable relationships between igneous and metamorphic processes.

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